Semic Composition Modulations of Quantitatives in the Phrasemes of English (Methodical Practices of Analysis)

Abstract

The article examines the process and result of semantic modulation of English quantitatives, which they necessarily undergo when affected by phrasemic context. The definition of the concept of semantic modulation is clarified at the background of the processes of semantic derivation and semantic transposition. A new comprehensive methodology for the analysis of modulation changes in phrasemic quantitatives of the English language is proposed, which, in addition to the traditional methods of decomposing the meaning into its components and detecting semes (integral, differential and gradational), includes automated tools of the computer program “Acrobat Reader” for searching the studied units in the electronic dictionaries of the English language. The expediency of adhering to the methodological principles of anthropocentrism and isomorphism of language and culture to study changes in the semantic structure of phrasemic quantitatives is substantiated. Componential analysis of the semantic structure of quantitatives has been carried out and the nature of the semic components’ redistribution in it under the influence of the phrasemic context has been revealed. The correlation between the activity of phrasemic quantitatives and the processes of semantic modulation has been established.